I am so guilty of painting myself orange nearly every day in order to not be as day-glo white that is my natural skin colour. Unfortunately, I’m not yet rich enough to have a constant natural glow from days spent sunbathing at the beach. I only get four weeks holiday a year and many of that is used for necessary odd days here and there. So, it falls on the bottle to make sure I don’t terrify children with my vampire-like skin tone. I did use the sunbeds for a little while, but the risk of skin cancer is too great just to have a bit of a tan. I like to think I’m pretty well versed in fake tan now, I have been using it for around eight years and have tried nearly every brand out there in my search for perfection. Here is my rundown of the best brands to buy for every budget. Budget My absolute, all time favourite tan is actual a budget brand. St Moritz is the lower end version of St Tropez, a much more expensive, luxury brand. But I just the love it’s colour and application. I always go for the foam in…

Both of my dogs were rescues from the kennels near to where I live. They were not puppies when we adopted them, they were full grown dogs and had picked up a lot of bad habits from their previous owners or from lack of discipline. Bear in mind that both of our dogs are bully breeds, we have a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and an American Bulldog and those breeds are known to be big and boisterous dogs. Discipline is essential in raising these types of dogs and if it is not appropriately applied then the breeds have the potential to live up to their undeserved reputation. Juda Juda was actually adopted by my partner nearly four years ago as quite a young dog and he had a fear of walking outside and my partner and his brother, with the best intentions, pandered to this fear and so took him on minimal walks. When I moved in, I took it upon myself to try and enforce a change as Juda’s weight was starting to become an issue. He wasn’t keen on the walks at first, his tail was between his legs and every so often he would just stop walking and…

Holidays are the thing I look forward to every year. Whether I’m going abroad to an exotic beach, exploring a city, or just getting to know my homeland better, it’s so exciting to get away from work and responsibilities and just relax and enjoy myself. As I don’t get too many holiday days with work, it’s so important that I get the right holiday package and that it is going to be one that I enjoy and that isn’t going to break the bank. As I’ve been travelling my whole life and panning my own trips since I was 16, I like to think I’ve got how to find the perfect holiday package down to a T. Decide What Type of Holiday You Want In my experience, there are four main types of holiday: relax, explore, adventure and chill. When deciding what type of holiday you want, you have to think about several things like who it is you’re going with, what you plan on doing while you’re there and how far you’re willing to go. Relaxing holidays are the ones where you’re either on your own or with a partner and you just want to sit on a beach…

I am a sucker for cheap alcohol. I am so far from an alcohol snob that I’m perfectly happy to drink Lambrini out of a wine glass and have that be my drink of choice for the entire evening. I always go for the cheapest wine at a restaurant and I always go to bargain shops to look for cheap-brand alternatives to the big names. Trust me, there are a lot of knock offs out there. So I decided to an investigation to find out how different these knock offs taste and the difference in price to let you guys know what it is you should be buying if you want the cheapest alcohol with the best taste. Rum – Malibu I LOVE Malibu, it’s coconutty, sweet and somehow feels thick and syrupoy which makes making drinks with it so much better as it gives everything the consistency of a cocktail. That being said, I don’t drink it that often because, for the price, it’s definitely low down on my list of preferences. However, I went to Home Bargains and spotted Kokomo, which is technically a liqueur but with a rum base, and it’s coconut flavoured. It tastes exactly the…

Growing up in a middle class household, I never really stressed too much about money. Sure, I always wanted more and sometimes I would throw a paddy because I couldn’t afford lots of new clothes on my papergirl wage, but on the whole we lived in a nice house, went on regular holidays and I was oblivious to what adult life was going to throw at me. Then, I went to University and personal finance problems ht me like a tonne of bricks. Student loan wasn’t enough to live in, I barely made anything at my once fortnightly bartending shift and between getting trans and food and going out, I was not very well off at all. I took a lot of advice from my mum and dad and by third year, I got the whole being financially responsible thing down pretty well. Now I’ve got a decent job, it’s easier than ever to be comfortable with my money. Here are the way that I found were best to save little amounts of change over a long amount of time to really help make things easier on you financially. Shop at the Cheap Supermarket It doesn’t matter where you buy…

Being a millenial is hard, a big part of the shift in attitudes is with regards to relationships. Many people have been turned off monogamy and it’s really starting to affect how our generation is growing up. With that being said, I’m very lucky to have met a partner who is going against the grain of our generation and is very happy with me and just me. We do have to mix things up occasionally though to keep things interesting and we’ve done our fair share of weird and wonderful date nights to try out new things and do something a bit different. Here are some of the alternative ways that we’ve bonded, something a little different than your standard cinema and food night out. Perfect Match Quiz This was actually something we did for the last Valentine’s Day. We basically both wrote down a load of questions about ourselves or our relation or our lives with multiple choice answers. Then we each took turns to ask, both of us wrote down an answer and when the time was up, the answerer then revealed what they wrote to see if it would match up! We also turned this into a…

I like to think that I stay pretty healthy. I eat fairly well, workout at the gym as much as possible even though I do still like to have alcoholic drinks moderately regularly. With that being said, I also work full time, take care of a three bedroomed house, a boyfriend and two dogs so sometimes I am a little tired and cannot dedicate as much time as I would like to the gym. BUT, I do still do mini workouts wherever I go because it’s so easy to just do a little something rather than abandoning the cause all together. Here are my top little things to do to sneak in a little workout on the go: #1 Take the stairs This tip is so simple and yet people STILL don’t do it! If you work on floor eight or below, always take the stairs! It’s really not that far and it won’t be too much effort because it’s such an easy thing to do. #2 Squeeze your but at your desk If you have a desk job, I always recommend standing up every couple of hours to get your legs stretched and ensure your posture and circulation isn’t…

Is there anything better than coming home after a hard day at work, getting into your jammies and curling up with a glass of wine in a cosy home? There really isn’t anything better and I’ve always known that candles are a key factor in making a house feel homely. I’ve always had candles in my room, ever since I moved out of my shared bedroom with my sister and finally got my own space. I’ve moved homes several time since them but one thing has always stayed constant: my candles. Several candles in every room are a must and I dread to think how much I actually spend on these per month. Nowadays, if I don’t get home and light a candle straight away, my partner thinks there is something wrong with me. Yes, it’s really that bad. Candles for Your Living Room Candles for your living room are an absolute imperative. Chances are, it’s the room where you spend the most of your time and it needs to feel like it’s cosy and comfortable so that you yourself feel cosy and comfortable. My candles are set up like this: five in front of the electric fireplace, two on…

I am very lucky at the moment that the house that I live in is very spacious for me, my partner and our two dogs. So spacious in fact, that I have a room that is entirely dedicated to me getting ready. Yes, I have my very own dressing room. For a 23 year old girl, having your own dressing room is the absolute dream. I have all of my clothes laid out exactly how I want to, without them being crushed and all my make-up is ready to go and laid out and not hidden away. The Blank Canvas I say a blank canvas, but in reality, the room was a state. A bright red wall, no carpet or flooring, just bare wood and a very dirty window. I definitely had my work cut out for me. In my head, I knew exactly how I wanted it to look: very bright, very minimalistic and very monochromatic. I had a strong idea of light greys and whites throughout with a feature colour of copper or rose gold. When I first started using it as my dressing room, i had my make-up sprawled out on an old coffee table and I…

Being a millenial sucks. Don’t fight me about it. It just does. Job security isn’t a thing any more, relationships don’t exist and don’t even THINK about being as privileged as your parents were at your age. One of the biggest downsides to living in this generation is the total unlikelihood of ever getting on the property ladder. We’re living in generation rent and it is not a good place to be. THe housing market suffered massively in the credit crunch and we’re here to bear the brunt of those negative side effects with vastly increased interest rates and house prices that are way out of our stagnated wage allowance. That being said, me and my partner are currently budgeting for a house and we’re getting on our way pretty nicely. There’s a while to go but we’re beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with regards to gathering our initial deposit. The actual mortgage repayments are a different bridge that we’ll cross when we get to it. Here are the way that have helped us save up to buy a house. Cutting Down on Nights Out Me and my partner love to go out and…

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The Gal, The Myth, The Legend

It’s me! Ya gal Hannah trying and failing to navigate the world as a twenty something with no real direction. Has a penchant for eating cheese and petting all doggos that come within 10 feet. Blogging about things I like, things I don’t and how you can improve your pretty social life, one blog post at a time.